Is Gusto or Lighthouse better?

Neither clearly leads. Gusto starts at $49/month and Lighthouse at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Gusto or Lighthouse?

Lighthouse has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $49/month for Gusto and Free for Lighthouse.

Does Gusto or Lighthouse run on more platforms?

Gusto runs on Web. Lighthouse runs on Chrome, Edge.

Can I use Lighthouse for free?

Yes. Lighthouse has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Gusto starts at $49/month.

What is Gusto best used for?

Gusto is most often used for payroll processing, benefits administration, tax compliance, employee onboarding. Of those, payroll processing and benefits administration are not what Lighthouse is typically brought in for.

What can Gusto do that Lighthouse cannot?

Gusto covers Automated payroll, Tax filing, Benefits administration, Time tracking. Lighthouse covers Performance scoring, Accessibility audit, SEO check, PWA validation.

All industries · head to head

Gusto vs Lighthouse

Gusto

All industries

The people platform for small businesses

From: $49/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Lighthouse

SEO & Website Optimization

Audit web page performance and quality

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Lighthouse has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Gusto customer service can be slow and unresponsive to issues; Lighthouse described by the vendor as an open-source, automated tool with community contributions welcomed, no commercial edition
They diverge on capability: Gusto covers Automated payroll, Lighthouse covers Performance scoring.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Gusto and Lighthouse actually diverge.

Attributes where Gusto and Lighthouse differ
Attribute	Gusto	Lighthouse
Starting price	$49/month	Free
Pricing model	Unknown	free
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web	Chrome, Edge
Category	All industries	SEO & Website Optimization
Founded	2011	1998

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Gusto

Automated payroll
Tax filing
Benefits administration
Time tracking
Employee onboarding
HR compliance
Workers' comp
401(k) management

Only in Lighthouse

Performance scoring
Accessibility audit
SEO check
PWA validation
Chrome support
Edge support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Gusto

Payroll processingnot Lighthouse
Benefits administrationnot Lighthouse
Tax compliancenot Lighthouse
Employee onboardingnot Lighthouse
Time trackingnot Lighthouse

Lighthouse

No use cases recorded yet. See the Lighthouse review.

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Gusto

Customer service can be slow and unresponsive to issues
Weak reporting capabilities, cannot export data to spreadsheets for analysis
Support staff lacks deep payroll expertise and knowledge
Rehired employees do not have settings reset, causing manual cleanup work
City tax handling requires additional monitoring and monitoring
Onboarding can have issues with bank account verification and tax registration

Lighthouse

Described by the vendor as an open-source, automated tool with community contributions welcomed, no commercial edition

Pricing, plan by plan

Gusto

$49/month

No published plan breakdown. See the Gusto review.

Lighthouse

Free

FreeFree
- Performance audit
- Accessibility check
- SEO analysis

Which should you pick?

Choose Gusto if

You need automated payroll.
You also want tax filing.

Gusto review

Choose Lighthouse if

You need performance scoring.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Chrome, Edge.
You also want accessibility audit.

Lighthouse review

Questions people ask

Is Gusto or Lighthouse better?: Neither clearly leads. Gusto starts at $49/month and Lighthouse at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Gusto or Lighthouse?: Lighthouse has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $49/month for Gusto and Free for Lighthouse.
Does Gusto or Lighthouse run on more platforms?: Gusto runs on Web. Lighthouse runs on Chrome, Edge.
Can I use Lighthouse for free?: Yes. Lighthouse has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Gusto starts at $49/month.
What is Gusto best used for?: Gusto is most often used for payroll processing, benefits administration, tax compliance, employee onboarding. Of those, payroll processing and benefits administration are not what Lighthouse is typically brought in for.
What can Gusto do that Lighthouse cannot?: Gusto covers Automated payroll, Tax filing, Benefits administration, Time tracking. Lighthouse covers Performance scoring, Accessibility audit, SEO check, PWA validation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Gusto: What is Gusto's starting price?

Gusto starts at $49 per month plus $6 per person. The company also offers a Contractor-only plan for $35 per month plus $6 per contractor.

Source

Gusto: Does Gusto include unlimited payroll runs?

Yes, all Gusto plans include unlimited payroll runs at no extra charge, including off-cycle payrolls.

Source

Gusto: What core features are included in Gusto?

All plans include payroll processing, tax administration, digital onboarding, benefits enrollment, time tracking, performance management, and next-day direct deposit for most plans.

Source

Gusto: Does Gusto support integrations?

Yes, Gusto integrates with accounting software, applicant tracking systems, benefits providers, time-tracking tools, and other business platforms to reduce data entry.

Source

Gusto vs Lighthouse

Gusto

Lighthouse

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Gusto

Only in Lighthouse

What people use each for

Gusto

Lighthouse

Where each one falls short

Gusto

Lighthouse

Pricing, plan by plan

Gusto

Lighthouse

Which should you pick?

Choose Gusto if

Choose Lighthouse if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Gusto

More on Lighthouse

Keep looking

Other head to heads